The Gator, the Pond, and the Lousy T-Shirt

Published on Aug 31 2026

(Author’s Note: Back in May of this year, I was scrolling through the photo archives looking for a perfectly normal photo for an upcoming newsletter, something safe, something routine, nothing remotely questionable, when I found my father-in-law (retired biologist and retired CR employee) in a pond, up to his neck, apparently searching for THE LEGENDARY AL. E. GATOR. Or maybe “The Swamp Scholar.” Or even “Aquatic Campus Resident.” Honestly, all options felt correct at that point. Anyhow, I’d heard stories about this back in the early 2000s when I was a student here, and even later as a staff member. And below, you get to read the real story.) 

It was back in 1993 or 1994, when the College of the Redwoods Pond was much more robust, less covered by foliage, and used by the aquaculture students daily. It was a time when course registration took place via the phone, and Google wasn’t a verb. 

It was a Friday. 

Jay Jones, a biologist, was the CR lab technician back then. Jay did not set out that day planning to capture an alligator. Really, it fell into his lap, metaphorically speaking, of course, and thankfully. 

It was the afternoon when he received the call from the administration that someone had spotted an alligator in the CR Pond. 

What you may not know about Jay is that, in his spare time (and still to this day), works with all things scaly, from snakes to lizards to fish and everything in between. 

So that day, the administration bestowed upon him an unofficial title: The Gator Getter. 

Now, the biology department at CR wasn’t, and probably still isn’t, equipped with the correct resources to capture alligators, which seems like a reasonable limitation for a biology department on a community college campus in Northern California, so Jay did two things: 

First, he called his good friend Dean Quintrell (also a lover of all things with scales), who worked at Fin & Feather, to assist with a plan that didn’t exist yet. Dean called Josh, another Fin & Feather guy, to come assist, watch, or supervise; we’re not sure which, maybe all three. It’s still unclear, but he did have T-shirts made. More on that later. 

Second, Jay and Dean rigged up a long rope loop and attached it to a four-foot seine net, the kind you’d use to catch fish, not alligators. 

What they discovered was a juvenile American alligator, roughly two to two and a half feet long. Jay, Dean and Josh figured someone had released the little guy into the pond after he’d outgrown his home and apparently decided the CR Pond would be a great new address. 

And the guy who decided to jump into the pond? 

Jay. 

Now, the alligator wasn’t huge, But as Jay pointed out, “It was still large enough that a bite could take a chunk out of someone and could cause damage.” 

Which, if you’re standing in a pond with an alligator, seems like useful information.  

Anyway, the plan was to use the seine net to corner the alligator into a smaller area. 

There was also a small boat involved, but neither Dean nor Jay could remember exactly the role the small boat played. But at this point, we’ll just have to trust that the boat was important. 

Jay made several attempts with the seine net, but they were unsuccessful. 

And each time the alligator saw the loop coming, he submerged. 

While Dean and Josh stood on shore to track the little guy and provide direction, it was becoming darker and harder to see. They didn’t have headlamps or appropriate lighting, and it was becoming colder outside. 

By dusk, the trio called it quits. Not because the alligator had won, exactly. They simply couldn’t see anymore, and they were cold. 

The College then decided to call in someone more experienced to catch the alligator. And remember, this was before the internet and Google, so the safest option was, perhaps, the tried-and-true phonebook.  

But where in the world would they start?  

A for Alligator Getter?  

R for Reptile Wrangler?  

Anyway, they found someone who came in that weekend, captured the little guy, and brought the saga to an end. 

But the coolest thing? Josh had the aforementioned T-shirts made for Dean and Jay. The T-shirt read: 

“I watched Jay and Dean fail to catch an alligator…and all I got was a lousy T-shirt!” 

And somehow, decades later, I ended up with a photo of my father-in-law standing neck-deep in that pond. 

Some CR stories really do have a way of sticking around.